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13 - Constituent Power

from Part II - Modalities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2025

By
Martin Loughlin
Edited by
Richard Bellamy  and
Jeff King
Richard Bellamy
Affiliation:
University College London
Jeff King
Affiliation:
University College London
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Summary

The concept of constituent power emerges alongside that of the modern documentary constitution. It expresses the conviction that the authority of the constitution rests on its having been drafted in the name of ‘the people’ who, through an exercise of their constitution-making power, are the authors of that constitution. Conceiving the constitution as an expression of collective self-government, constituent power is therefore closely associated with the concept of popular sovereignty. This chapter examines how constituent power emerged in modern thought, explains its original meaning, sketches its subsequent evolution in thought, and evaluates the role it continues to play in contemporary constitutional discourse.

Keywords

constituent powerpopular sovereigntySieyesCarl Schmittpost-sovereign constituent power
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Constitutional Theory , pp. 208 - 224
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

Recommended Reading

Arato, A. (2017). The Adventures of the Constituent Power: Beyond Revolutions? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Böckenförde, E.-W. (2017). The Constituent Power of the People: A Liminal Concept of Constitutional Law. In his Constitutional and Political Theory. Edited by Künkler, M. and Stein, T.. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 168–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bodin, J. (1576). Les six livres de la république. Paris: Jacques du Puis.Google Scholar
Dyzenhaus, D. (2012). Constitutionalism in an old key: legality and constituent power. Global Constitutionalism, 1 (2), pp. 229–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loughlin, M. (2003). The Idea of Public Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press, chap. 6.Google Scholar
Loughlin, M. & Walker, N. (2007). The Paradox of Constitutionalism: Constituent Power and Constitutional Form, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Napoleon, I. (1910). The Corsican: A Diary of Napoleon’s Life in His Own Words [1804] Johnston, R. M. ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.Google Scholar
Negri, A. (1999). Insurgencies: Constituent Power and the Modern State. Translated by M. Boscagli. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Rubinelli, L. (2019). How to think beyond sovereignty: one Sieyès and constituent power. European Journal of Political Theory, 18 (1), 47–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubinelli, L. (2020). Constituent Power: A History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sieyès, E.-J. (2003 [1789]). What is the Third Estate? In Political Writings. Translated by M. Sonenscher. Indianapolis: Hackett, pp. 92–162.Google Scholar

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